The Role of QA in Software Development & Testing FAQ

If you’ve still got questions on key elements of software testing, this section is dedicated to you! We’ll cover development and test cycles, different kinds of QA testing, and more. For any questions you’ve got that aren’t listed here, feel free to contact us to go over your company’s projects and find the right answer for you.

• What’s the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)?

Requirement Analysis: This one’s exactly what it sounds like. At this step, your team works with executives and analysts to define the scope of the project and the resources you’ll need.

Structural Design: Including UI/UX design, this step is about creating the architecture that your software project will use as a framework for menus and other components.

Implementation: This is the bulk of the SDLC. Here, front- and back-end developers get to work building the digital project in your chosen programming language.

QA: Here’s where all the testing will take place. This typically happens at regular intervals during implementation, giving developers timely feedback on the code they’re creating.

Deployment and Maintenance: These last two involve launching the software, then having a team update and support the product after it’s gone to market.

Read: 6-Step Process To MVP Development

• What’s the Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC)?

Requirement Analysis: Obviously, this is different for testers than developers. Testers are out to understand what needs to be tested, so they can deliver better insights to developers.

Test Planning and Design: After the QA project manager figures out the effort and costs required for testing, the team prepares data and test cases for review. 

Test Environment Setup: This is the bread and butter of the STLC, and it can happen during the test design stage. The conditions for software testing determine if the QA team’s findings will best reflect the final environment.

Test Execution: With data, test cases, and the environment all prepared, this is when the QA team can start their work to identify flaws and find bugs.

Test Closure: The results of testing are analyzed in this stage, so they can be shared with the development team and overall project manager to fix the issues.

• What Are Common Testing Types in Software?

Black-Box vs. White-Box Testing: The main differences between these testing categories can be summed up as external only vs. full review respectively. Black-box testing only looks at external behavior, not the software’s inner workings. White-box testing looks at both.

Unit and Functional Tests: Timing and staff set these apart. Unit testing is done by the developer in the SDLC, and functional testing is done by the QA tester during system testing.

Load Testing: Best suited to multi-user architectures, this test checks a software application’s expected usage by simulating several users accessing the program at the same time.

Automated Acceptance Testing: Because they assess programs in a production-like setting by testing from a user’s perspective, these tests are extra effective with CI/CD processes.

Integration Testing: Taking place after unit tests and before functional tests, this will test software modules as a group. It determines if a system/component meets requirements.

Regression Tests: This type of test is for previously tested programs to make sure they still operate correctly after prior changes. If it doesn’t, that’s referred to as a regression.

Security Testing: As cybersecurity becomes a bigger concern than ever, security testing focuses on exposing vulnerabilities in information systems while maintaining functionality.

Smoke Testing: Usually performed earlier in development, smoke tests are designed to find simple and severe flaws that would hold a project back from going to launch.

• What’s Error vs. Fault vs. Failure?

These phrases are often confused, since they describe various ways that a project isn’t working. Error is the difference between expected and actual output, and it’s typically used as a term for developers. Testers will say it’s a bug rather than an error. Fault is when something makes it so the software can’t perform as intended. Typically, this is an issue in the code. Failure refers to a component or system in the project that’s unable to carry out a specific function based on its specifications. This means the equipment you have can’t support what you’re trying to do.